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Plants make up more than 80 percent of the human diet. As a result, they are critical for food security and ensuring that we all have access to enough, cheap, clean, and nutritional food to lead healthy and active living. This research focuses on plant diseases as they create a major threat to food security. Expert people are hired in traditional farming to physically evaluate line by line for host disease plants, which would be labor-intensive, time taking and potentially error-prone activity because it is done by people manually. This work focus on, supervised machine learning algorithms like RF, SVM, DT, KNN, NB, and KNN with image processing methods and also analysis algorithm results with each other and finds the best algorithm for plant disease classification. RF algorithm achieved 89 percent accuracy compared with other algorithms.

Agriculture plays a major role in developing countries like India, however the food security still remains a vital issue. Most of the crops get wasted due to lack of storage facility, transportation, and plant diseases. More than 15% of the crops get wasted in India due to diseases and hence it has become one of the major concern to be resolved. There is a need of automatic system that can identify these diseases and help farmers to take appropriate steps to get rid of crop loss. Farmers have followed the conventional method of identifying the plant disease with their naked eyes, and it not possible for all the farmers to identify these diseases the same way. With the advance in Artificial Intelligence, there is a need to incorporate the facilities of the computer vision in the field of agriculture. Deep Learning rich libraries and user as well as developer friendly environment to work with, all these qualities make Deep Learning as the favorable method to get started with this problem. In this paper we have used Deep Learning because of the advantages it offers to work with images especially in image classification to get improvised results. The methodology includes taking leaves of infected crops and label them as per the disease pattern. The images of infected leaves are processed pixel based operations are applied to improve the information from the image. As a next step feature extraction is done followed by image segmentation and at the last classification of crop diseases based on the patterns extracted from the diseased leaves. The CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) is used for the classification of diseases, for the demonstration purpose the public dataset is used consisting of around 87 K images (RGB type images) including healthy as well as diseased leaves.

The loess hilly and gully region of China supports a fragile ecosystem that has been subject to serious water loss and soil erosion in recent decades. In response, ongoing soil and water conservation and ecological restoration efforts have been conducted. A review of the region's development history indicates that the utilization mode of cropland in rural areas played an important role in the course of soil and water conservation and socioeconomic development. As a representative area, this study evaluated the status of the Yangjuangou catchment of Liqu Town, Baota District, Shaanxi Province. The dynamic processes, driving factors, variation characteristics, and intrinsic mechanisms of changes in cropland use since the 1980s were analyzed using remote sensing and participatory interview survey data. The results showed that changes in cropland use in Yangjuangou catchment occurred in four stages, including slope cropland utilization stage (1985–1998), the Grain for Green Project stage (1999–2007), agricultural structure adjustment stage (2008–2012), and cropland abandonment stage (2013–2017). These changes in cropland use were driven by policy, economic, socio-cultural, and environmental factors and showed certain characteristics. Specifically, cropland exhibited a “core-margin" funnel-shaped pattern in vertical space, with its changes tending to “flow” toward the core; its utilization intensity generally increased, and the area of intensive utilization and intensive elements gradually shifted. In recent years, spatial patterns gradually developed a sustainable “ecology-production" spatial pattern and abandoned cropland exhibited “contagion” spatial patterns. Finally, based on the behavior mechanisms of farmers and government, we found that the driving force for changes in cropland has changed over time. Initially, food demand on farmers and the goal of ecological safety promoted by the government were dominant. But more recently, the drivers have changed to development demand on farmers and the equal government objectives of promoting ecological safety, rural development, and food security. This study provides a microcosmic perspective on understanding the process and rules of changes in cropland use in the loess hilly and gully region. It also helps to understand the rural transition, providing a reference for developing rural development strategies and policies in this region.

Grain is not only the basic living materials of urban and rural residents, but an important strategic resource related to the national security. Therefore, grain security is an important aspect of national security. Farmers' willingness to grow grain is the key factor to guarantee food security. Based on the structural equation model, the main factors that influence the farmers' willingness to grow grain were studied in this paper by investigating 486 dispersed farmers in six counties (cities, districts) of three prefecture-level cities in Shandong Province. The study indicated that aside from the difficulty of measuring the influence of personal characteristic factors, the national grain subsidy policies, grain price, grain planting scale, other farmers' production behaviors, and promotion of agricultural technology affected the farmers' willingness to grow grain in varying degrees. Further regional multi-group analyses demonstrated that the farmers' willingness to grow grain showed an increasing trend from east to west in Shandong Province. Additionally, grain subsidy policies and family characteristic factors had obvious regional differences on the farmers' willingness to grow grain. Therefore, optimizing and improving the national grain subsidy policies, encouraging the management of a moderate scale, stabilizing prices of grain, increasing the propaganda of agricultural information and promoting agricultural technology were the key factors to increase the farmers' willingness to grow grain.

Sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD) plays a crucial role in maintaining natural resources, protecting the ecological environment, enhancing global food security, eradicating poverty, and even promoting rural revitalization. To understand the degree of implementation of SARD in the Shenfu coalfield under climate change, three villages that had different levels of energy development were selected. The linear trends and the Mann-Kendall method were used to analyse the climate change characteristics in the study area and a coordinated development model was employed to measure both the SARD coordination and its coordination degree and to analyse the perceptions of farmers, the adaption strategies they have employed, and the factors influencing the success of SARD. The results demonstrate that the climate in the study area has generally become warmer and drier, and this change has increased the vulnerability of the ecological environment and has had adverse impacts on local SARD. Farmers' perceptions of climate change are in line with climate records, but their perceptions of temperature change exhibit a certain time lag. In addition, their adaptation strategies are conducted autonomously, and they vary among the three villages. Based on these results, it is recommended that the local government implement additional policies relating to carbon capture and storage technologies to reduce the adverse effects of climate change. Factors influencing the success of SARD in the three villages are as follows: rapid urbanization; low incomes provided from crop farming; the outflow of primary and middle school students together with the accompanying population; climate warming and the increased frequency of extreme weather events; and environmental pollution and secondary geological disasters caused by coal mining. For all three villages, only by ensuring the synchronization of energy development and environmental protection can SARD be realized in the study area. Countermeasures that can be used to promote SARD in the Shenfu coalfield are proposed in this paper, and they include adjusting the industrial structure in the study area with respect to water conditions, selecting appropriate crop varieties, and accelerating the development of the alfalfa industry in response to national initiatives.

In the National Development Plan, cooperatives and agriculture development are identified as possible solutions for addressing rural poverty and unemployment, especially among the youth. However, according to most research/literature, agricultural cooperatives fail for many reasons, including but not limited to lack of capital, incompetent management and organizational deficiencies. This study applied a qualitative analysis to the qualitative data using a case study of Zanokhanyo Food Security Cooperative (ZFSC) in Ndabakazi, Butterworth. Interviews with the project members, ex-members, extension officers and youth were conducted through a semi-structured questionnaire administered in IsiXhosa. According to the results, lack of intensive production resulting in very low incomes is one of the reasons why projects such as ZFSC fail to attract young people and provide employment for rural people. Agricultural extension advisory services play a very limited role because of their generalist approach; they lack depth of knowledge about diverse agricultural subject areas. This study recommends that agricultural extension and the farmers’ support system be improved by employing or outsourcing specialists to cater to the needs of agricultural cooperatives in order to improve the productivity and income of agricultural cooperatives.

Gestational and pregestational diabetes during pregnancy are substantial and growing public health issues. Low-income individuals and individuals who identify as racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected. Food security, which is defined as the degree to which individuals have capacity to access and obtain food, is at the center of nutritional resources and decisions for individuals with diabetes. While increasingly recognized as an important mediator of health disparities in the United States, food insecurity is understudied during pregnancy and specifically among pregnant individuals with diabetes, for whom the impact of food-related resources may be even greater. Previous research has suggested that food insecurity is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus diagnoses and disease exacerbation in the general adult population. An emerging body of research has suggested that food insecurity during pregnancy is associated with gestational diabetes mellitus diagnoses and adverse diabetes-related outcomes. Additionally, food insecurity during pregnancy may be associated with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Future research and clinical work should aim to further examine these relationships and subsequently develop evidence-based interventions to improve diabetes-related outcomes among pregnant individuals with food insecurity. The purpose of this article is to offer a working definition of food security, briefly review issues of food insecurity and diabetes, summarize research on food insecurity and diabetes-related pregnancy health, and discuss clinical recommendations and areas for future investigation. KEY POINTS: · Research on food insecurity and diabetes-related health is limited.. · The impact of food security on diabetes management and obstetric outcomes is likely significant.. · Future work to evaluate perinatal food security screening is warranted..

Cambodia is witnessing a “Goldilocks moment” in demographic change concurrent with shifts in land use, hydrology, and climate. These trends interact and affect food production, food costs, and food security. Drivers of these trends are typically examined separately with interacting factors considered along disciplinary margins. While science models to explore these interacting effects have been proposed, there remains an applied research gap in integrating these pieces and assessing interdisciplinary opportunities for developing food security solutions. Developed following a request from USAID to elucidate food security conditions in Cambodia, here the authors present their geospatial synthesis of the biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of current food security risk, as well as explore future trends for those conditions. The overall structure shows several interlocking or mutually reinforcing trends in systems that point towards a significant intensification of food insecurity in the near future. They offer an assessment of future targets for food systems innovation.

Despite the contribution of cowpeas to food security and the crop's numerous nutritional and health attributes, consumers in South Africa have labelled cowpeas, among other leguminous crops as a “poor people's food”; this contributed to the gradual decline in the cultivation and use of the crop. This, in turn, resulted in the observed high reliance on limited number of plant based protein crops and excessive consumption of livestock products. In this paper, three aspects are interrogated, i.e., genetic resource management, production constraints as well as the trade performance and consumption of cowpeas in South Africa. A clear understanding of these aspects renders an informed decision upon which recommendations for the necessary practical interventions that are needed to be put in place to spur the development of target products and cowpea's value chain. The assessment of genetic resource management and seed production constraints of cowpeas was based on a review of relevant literature, while descriptive analysis of secondary data spanning a period of 10 years (2010-2019) obtained from Trade Map and FAOSTAT databases was used to interrogate the trade performance and consumption of cowpeas. Findings reveal that seed production constraints are largely anchored on the limited attention government and policy making institutions have accorded to the seed system of orphaned crops, thereby compromising their potential by failing to supply affordable good quality seeds to smallholder and commercial farmers. However, South Africa has one of the largest and most diverse collections of cowpea germplasm housed at the Agricultural Research Council. With regard to trade performance and consumption, results show that South Africa is a net exporter of cowpeas, with a 10 years’ period annual average worth R2.9 million. Given that South Africa does not re-export cowpeas, yet on average 4848 tonnes are produced annually, it is a clear indication that the country produces lightly more than what is consumed domestically – on average 4634 tonnes per annum. Therefore, recommendation is made to bolster cowpea production and productivity through mainstreaming the legume seed system towards boosting local and export markets as well as strongly enhancing local consumption by creating awareness of the nutritional and health benefits of cowpeas. Furthermore, there is a need to increase awareness about the nutritional and health benefits of cowpeas and other leguminous crops, among other socio-economic benefits. This is important in spurring cowpeas consumption domestically, while countering the over reliance on animal products as protein sources and the associated risks such as such as high greenhouse gas emissions and obesity for people.

To test the hypothesis that food insecurity is associated with greater prevalence of vision impairment (VI).Cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of US adults.Adults 50 years and older were included. Food security category (ie, full, marginal, low, or very low) was assessed by the US Household Food Security Survey Module. Objective presenting VI (PVI) and self-reported VI (SRVI) were assessed by examination and survey, respectively. Separate logistic regression models were constructed with food insecurity category as a predictor of PVI or SRVI. Models were adjusted for age, gender, race, education, income, cigarette use, alcohol use, body mass index, and physical activity. Age-stratified analyses (age 50 through 64 years vs 65 years and older) were also conducted.Mean age of participants (n = 10,078) was 63.4 years; 8,518 (89.9%) were fully food secure, 1,033 (7.2%) had PVI, and 2,633 (20.1%) had SRVI. Compared with full food security, adjusting for sociodemographic confounders, those with marginal (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.31; 95% CI, 0.97-1.76), low (aOR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.17-2.23), and very low (aOR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.75-4.20) food security had higher odds of PVI. Compared with full food security, those with marginal (aOR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.23-2.02), low (aOR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.11-1.92), and very low (aOR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.41-2.41) food security had higher odds of SRVI. The associations between food insecurity and PVI were greater in magnitude in those 65 years and older compared with those age 50 through 64 years.In this nationally representative sample of US adults 50 years and older, severe food insecurity was increasingly associated with greater prevalence of VI in a dose-response manner.

The health of the majority of South Africa’s population is seriously threatened by hunger and micronutrient deficiency, with impaired immune response a real threat, which the current SARSCoV-2 virus pandemic has highlighted. Traditional household food-processing techniques can, amongst other advantages, increase nutrient bioavailability in affordable staple foods and hence provide a way, in part, to alleviate malnutrition for food-insecure communities. In this way, immune defence and pathogen resilience of the food insecure could be enhanced so that they can better survive both COVID-19 and future threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Indigenous crops also known as orphan crops are key contributors to food security, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable with the current trend of population growth and climate change. They have the major advantage that they fit well into the general socio-economic and ecological context of developing world agriculture. However, most indigenous crops did not benefit from the Green Revolution, which dramatically increased the yield of major crops such as wheat and rice. Here, we describe the Tef Improvement Project, which employs both conventional- and molecular-breeding techniques to improve tef—an orphan crop important to the food security in the Horn of Africa, a region of the world with recurring devastating famines. We have established an efficient pipeline to bring improved tef lines from the laboratory to the farmers of Ethiopia. Of critical importance to the long-term success of this project is the cooperation among participants in Ethiopia and Switzerland, including donors, policy makers, research institutions, and farmers. Together, European and African scientists have developed a pipeline using breeding and genomic tools to improve the orphan crop tef and bring new cultivars to the farmers in Ethiopia. We highlight a new variety, Tesfa, developed in this pipeline and possessing a novel and desirable combination of traits. Tesfa’s recent approval for release illustrates the success of the project and marks a milestone as it is the first variety (of many in the pipeline) to be released., Euphytica, 214 (2), ISSN:0014-2336, ISSN:1573-5060

Climate change is having increasing impacts on food security globally. With 925 million citizens expected to be undernourished by 2020, the contribution of green biotechnology to meeting world food security needs is discussed. Applications of biotechnology including marker-aided selection, genomics, genetic modifications, and emergent novel technologies of relevance to drought resistance and salt tolerance to meet the needs of an increasing population under stressed environmental conditions are described.

With an increasing concern over food safety issues and environmental awareness, the world is looking for alternatives to synthetic agrochemicals as food security for increasing human population is primarily important. Plant-associated and free-living soil bacteria hold the potential to replace agrochemicals as their role in pest control is already well established. However, their commercial use for agro-food production is still restricted and needs to be more productive and cost-effective with improved delivery systems and safety. This article summarizes bacterial formulations and their delivery systems in the soil for chemical-free food production. Constraints behind their commercial use and methods which are now being employed to enhance their success in field are also discussed.

Problem definition: Price surge of essential commodities despite inventory availability, due to artificial shortage, presents a serious threat to food security in many countries. To protect consumers’ welfare, governments intervene reactively with either (i) cash subsidy, to increase consumers’ purchasing power by directly transferring cash; or (ii) supply allocation, to increase product availability by importing the commodity from foreign markets and selling it at subsidized rates. Academic/practical relevance: This paper develops a new behavioral game-theoretic model to examine the supply chain and market dynamics that engender artificial shortage as well as to analyze the effectiveness of various government interventions in improving consumer welfare. Methodology: We analyze a three-stage dynamic game between the government and the trader. We fully characterize the market equilibrium and the resulting consumer welfare under the base scenario of no government intervention as well as under each of the interventions being studied. Results: The analysis demonstrates the disparate effects of different interventions on artificial shortage; whereas supply allocation schemes often mitigate shortage, cash subsidy can inadvertently aggravate shortage in the market. Furthermore, empirical analysis with actual data on onion prices in India shows that the proposed model explains the data well and provides specific estimates on the implied artificial shortage. A counterfactual analysis quantifies the potential impacts of government interventions on market outcomes. Managerial implications: The analysis shows that reactive government interventions with supply allocation schemes can have a preemptive effect to reduce the trader’s incentive to create artificial shortage. Although cash subsidy schemes have recently gained wide popularity in many countries, we caution governments to carefully consider the strategic responses of different stakeholders in the supply chain when implementing cash subsidy schemes.

Objective To explore associations between food insecurity, health behaviors, and academic performance among undergraduates at a private, urban US university. Methods A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted among a convenience sample of New York University undergraduates. Multivariable logistic regression estimated associations of food security (using the 6-item US Household Food Security Survey Module) and health behaviors (fruit/vegetable, beverage and alcohol intakes, and sleep), self-rated health, and academic performance. Results Of the 257 students who completed the survey, 41% reported food insecurity. Food insecurity was associated with approximately 2-fold higher odds of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (adjusted odds ratio, 1.97; 95% confidence interval, 1.14–3.41) and fair/poor health (adjusted odds ratio, 2.29; 95% confidence interval, 1.23–4.25). Conclusions and Implications Increased awareness of food insecurity and associated health behaviors among students has implications for higher education's provision of on-campus food support programs.

Sleep architecture in older age is an important public health concern. However, little is known about the effect of food insecurity on sleep quality among older people. We provide the first representative study of the association between food insecurity and poor sleep quality (PSQ) in older adults in the sub-Saharan African context.Data were drawn from the 2016-2017 AgeHeaPsyWel-HeaSeeB Study in Ghana. Past 30-day food insecurity was assessed with two items on the frequency of hunger and breakfast-skipping due to lack of food and resources. Participants reported night- and day-time sleep problems and sleep duration. Multiple OLS regressions were used to evaluate the hypothesized associations.Data on 1201 adults aged ≥ 50 years (mean = 63 [SD = 12]; women = 63%) were analyzed. In the full OLS adjusted model, moderate (β = .144; p .001) and severe (β = .184; p .001) levels of food insecurity were positively and significantly associated with PSQ. Also, older adults reporting moderate (β = -.153; p .001) and severe (β = -.128; p .001) food insecurity hadfewer sleep hours than those who were food-secure. Women and those aged ≥ 65 were at higher risks of PSQ in the context food insecurity.Addressing food insecurity may be an effective policy and public health intervention for improving sleep quality and overall well-being in older age.

Tef is a highly nutritious gluten-free Ethiopian cereal with food-feed potential. However, its productivity is affected by lodging, weed infestation, terminal drought, small seed size, and shattering. Following the recent availability of tef genome sequences, we highlight the need to harness the benefits that this underutilised crop offers to improve food security.

Crop water productivity is a key element of water and food security in the world and can be quantified by the water footprint (WF). Previous studies have looked at the spatially explicit distribution of crop WFs but little is known about the temporal dynamics. We develop a new global gridded crop model – AquaCrop-Earth@lternatives (ACEA) – that can simulate three consumptive WF components: green (WFg), blue from irrigation (WFbi), and blue from capillary rise (WFbc) at high temporal and spatial resolutions. The model is applied to analyse global maize production during 1986–2016 at 5 × 5 arc minute grid. Our results show that in 2012–2016, the global average unit WF of maize is 723.2 m3 t−1 y−1 (89.5 % WFg, 8.3 % WFbi, 2.2 % WFbc) with values varying greatly around the world. Regions characterised by high agricultural development generally show a small unit WF and its interannual variation, such as Western Europe and Northern America (WF 3 t−1 y−1, CV  2500 m3 t−1 y−1, CV > 40 %). Since 1986, the global unit WF of maize has reduced by 34.6 % mainly due to the historical decrease in yield gaps. However, due to the rapid expansion of rainfed and irrigated cropland, the global WF of maize production has increased by 48.8 % peaking at 762.9 × 109 m3 y−1 in 2016. As many regions still have a high potential in decreasing yield gaps, the unit WF of maize is likely to continue reducing, whereas the WF of maize production is likely to continue growing as humanity’s rising appetite can lead to further cropland expansion. The simulation of other crops with ACEA is necessary to assess the pressure of overall crop production on ecosystems and freshwater resources worldwide.

Background In 2020, the United States had approximately 85,000 new diagnoses of Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Food insecurity is both a direct and indirect detriment to health outcomes. The rate and risk factors for food insecurity among lymphoma patients are unknown, as the unemployment rate soars far above pre-COVID19 pandemic levels further heightening the economic stresses of a lymphoma diagnosis. Methods Data regarding the food security status were obtained from the cross-sectional National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A raw score compiled from a series of 10 food security questions was used to determine the Food Secure and Food Insecure groups. Respondents who reported a history of lymphoma from 2011 to 2019 were included in the analysis. Results Of the 921 patients reporting a history of lymphoma 9.06% were considered Food Insecure. The sociodemographic subgroups with the highest risk of being Food Insecure included respondents living below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level, non-US citizens, the uninsured, and those on Medicare. Conclusion Food insecurity is common among lymphoma patients. Therefore, oncologists across the country should be aware of the sociodemographic risk factors for food insecurity in order to assist in mediation, maximizing the efficacy of treatments. Research regarding the impact of food insecurity on therapy compliance and patient outcomes is warranted in future studies.

Background: The nexus of agri-food and sustainability in economic development has recently attracted the interest of policymakers, as global challenges like climate change and food security are revisited and reassessed. The critical role of food production in economic development has been emphasized through targeted agricultural quality policies. Many developed countries worldwide, including EU member states, have introduced food quality policies that could support sustainability.Scope and approach: This paper combines knowledge obtained by several groups in a broad EU study and the reflections on policy-related results by EU-stakeholders, streamlined by a Delphi analysis.Current work presents research-based policy recommendations and statements on various quality schemes, introductory inferred from expert opinions throughout Europe, gauged through a modified policy Delphi framework.Key findings and conclusions: A roadmap of policy and practical proposals have been identified for all key stakeholders involved in these initiatives, implying the need to reshape the supply chain dynamics to continuously improve producers, processors, retailers, and consumers within the EU and definitively worldwide. Furthermore, implementing a holistic approach considering environmental and socio-economic features can improve the effectiveness of EU food quality policies.

Brexit repatriates agriculture policy and subsidies after over 40 years of determination by the European Commission. The paper starts by describing the baseline at Brexit, noting the relatively small economic contribution, the problems of competitiveness given the UK’s geology and geography, and the poor environmental outcomes. The scope for improvement is correspondingly large, and in particular through the impacts of the new agricultural policy based upon public money for public goods and for England, the Environmental Land Management Schemes. Larger and more long-term impacts will come through new trade agreements, through new technologies, including digitalization, robotics, and genetics, and through carbon farming and offsets. Finally, the paper sets out a framework for a future assessment of the impact of Brexit.

Food system is a powerful concept for understanding and responding to nutrition and sustainability challenges. Food systems integrate social, economic, environmental and health aspects of food production through to consumption. Aquatic foods are an essential part of food systems providing an accessible source of nutrition for millions of people. Yet, it is unclear to what degree research across diverse disciplines concerning aquatic foods has engaged food systems, and the value this concept has added. We conducted a systematic review of fisheries, aquaculture and aquatic food literature (2017–2019) to determine the following: the characteristics of this research; the food systems components and interrelations with which research engaged; and the insights generated on nutrition, justice, sustainability and climate change. Sixty five of the 88 reviewed articles focussed on production and supply chains, with 23 considering human nutrition. Only 13% of studies examined low- and middle-income countries that are most vulnerable to undernutrition. One third of articles looked beyond finfish to other aquatic foods, which illuminated values of local knowledge systems and diverse foods for nutrition. When aggregated, reviewed articles examined the full range of food system drivers—biophysical and environmental (34%), demographic (24%) and socio-cultural (27%)—but rarely examined interactions between drivers. Future research that examines a diversity of species in diets, system-wide flows of nutrients, trade-offs amongst objectives, and the nutritional needs of vulnerable social groups would be nudging closer to the ambitions of the food systems concept, which is necessary to address the global challenges of equity, nutrition and sustainability.

The present agriculture food supply chain (AFSC) faces numerous challenges about the growing demand for food items and consumer preference regarding food safety. In addition to growing concerns about sustainability, stringent government regulation, food security, and traceability issues force the managers, industries, and practitioners working in AFSC to adopt new tools, techniques, and methodology to model current food supply chain issues and correspondingly design the food logistics network. To this effect, the purpose of this article is threefold: the first focus is to identify the various challenges in AFSC, second is to review the research contribution in the field of designing agro-food supply chain network (AFSCN), while the third aspect is to investigate performance measurement system of AFSC through various performance indicators. For this, 108 articles are reviewed, and the main research findings are discussed in different aspects. Technology adoption and integration in design AFSCN are exciting prospects for future AFSC research. In addition, the digital transformation of AFSC is gaining wide acceptance across all agro-stakeholders and practitioners. Similarly, other research trends are further emphasized, and possible future challenges are also identified.

Background There is recognition that a reduction of consumer demand for foods that have large environmental footprints is necessary. Recent innovations in food production technologies (“food frontiers”) claim to offer gains in ecological sustainability and global food security, thereby transitioning our food system toward a more sustainable future. Yet, scientific evidence to support these claims has not been critically reviewed for several high-profile innovations. Scope and approach In this paper, we undertake a critical review of the literature on five food frontiers: cellular agriculture, climate-driven northern agricultural expansion (NAE), controlled environment agriculture (CEA), entomophagy, and seaweed aquaculture. We estimate the feasibility of each frontier’s widespread implementation by 2050 and their potential positive impacts on food system sustainability. We highlight uncertainty regarding ecological tradeoffs and future production potential in the literature, research gaps, and policy pathways that may maximize the benefits of these food frontiers. Key findings and conclusions Entomophagy, cellular agriculture, CEA, and seaweed aquaculture have similar positive impact values. Yet, CEA appears to be the most feasible technology to implement at scale. The mixed potential impacts of NAE suggest that such expansion poses multiple risks to the global food system. Standardized approaches to modeling environmental parameters in life cycle analyses are required, so that predicted impacts can be reasonably compared within and among these bodies of literature. Further critical social scientific engagement is needed to better understand the political and institutional frameworks in which these food frontiers will be implemented.

Food allergies affect 32 million Americans. Restricted diets due to food allergies can be difficult to maintain especially when the household is food insecure. Food insecurity is defined as the inability to acquire food for household members due to insufficient money or resources for food. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many people to face food insecurity for the first time with Latinx, Native American, and Black communities disproportionately affected. Because of the increase in food insecurity, this work group developed a survey regarding food insecurity screening. This survey was sent out to a random sample of American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology members to assess food insecurity knowledge and practices. The majority of survey participants did not routinely screen their patients for food insecurity. The biggest barrier identified to screening was lack of knowledge of how to perform a screen and resources available when a patient screened positive. This work group report provides guidance on how to implement and perform a food insecurity screen, including federal resources and assistance programs.

Food security is an issue of critical importance for GCC countries. The share of domestic agricultural production remains low, because water supplies and arable land are an extremely scarce resource in the region. These countries currently import most of what they consume and will continue to do so, since national food production is not a viable option. The study reveals the specific characteristics of the food problem of GCC countries and the ways to solve it, which can be used to ensure more optimal food imports. Special attention is paid to investment projects in the food sector of the GCC countries.

The activities of the United Nations in the 21st century, as in the earlier period, are undoubtedly devoted to protection and promotion of human rights. It promotes the realization of fundamental human rights through specialized agencies in various fields taking in account concerns and needs of vulnerable groups of population, in particular indigenous peoples. The World Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), in its turn, develops policies and implements strategies and programs to guarantee food security and the right to food to aboriginal people around the world, including in Latin America.

Global projections on the climate change and the dynamic environmental perturbations indicate severe impacts on food security in general, and crop yield, vigor and the quality of produce in particular. Sessile plants respond to environmental challenges such as salt, drought, temperature, heavy metals at transcriptional and/or post-transcriptional levels through the stress-regulated network of pathways including transcription factors, proteins and the small non-coding endogenous RNAs. Amongs these, the miRNAs have gained unprecedented attention in recent years as key regulators for modulating gene expression in plants under stress. Hence, tailoring of miRNAs and their target pathways presents a promising strategy for developing multiple stress-tolerant crops. Plant stress tolerance has been successfully achieved through the over expression of microRNAs such as Os-miR408, Hv-miR82 for drought tolerance; OsmiR535A and artificial DST miRNA for salinity tolerance; and OsmiR535 and miR156 for combined drought and salt stress. Examples of miR408 overexpression also showed improved efficiency of irradiation utilization and carbon dioxide fixation in crop plants. Through this review, we present the current understanding about plant miRNAs, their roles in plant growth and stress-responses, the modern toolbox for identification, characterization and validation of miRNAs and their target genes including in silico tools, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Various approaches for up-regulation or knock-out of miRNAs have been discussed. The main emphasis has been given to the exploration of miRNAs for development of bioengineered climate-smart crops that can withstand changing climates and stressful environments, including combination of stresses, with very less or no yield penalties.

OBJECTIVE To examine changes in prevalence of overeating behaviors in a comparative effectiveness study of two pediatric weight management interventions. METHODS Four-hundred and seven children, ages 6-12 years, with a BMI ≥ 85th percentile were enrolled in a comparative effectiveness trial of two pediatric weight management interventions. Prevalence of "sneaking, hiding or hoarding food", and 'eating in the absence of hunger' was evaluated at baseline and 12 months. Statistical methods included McNemar's test and longitudinal logistic regression. RESULTS Prevalence of "sneak, hide, or hoard food" significantly decreased in all participants from 29.1% to 20.7% at 12 months. The prevalence of "eating in the absence of hunger" decreased in all participants from 46.7% to 22.4% at 12 months. Use of SNAP benefits, free/reduced meals at school, parental stress, housing, and food insecurity at baseline were associated with an increased likelihood of endorsing overeating behaviors at 12 months. Conversely, those who engaged in at least one session of the pediatric weight management intervention were significantly less likely to endorse "eating in the absence of hunger" at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS Participation in pediatric weight management interventions improves the prevalence of overeating behaviors and is associated with participant engagement and social determinants of health, specifically food security status. Efforts to engage populations impacted by food insecurity and other social determinants of health risk factors will be critical for success of weight management interventions. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION This trial has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT03012126).

Conservation agriculture (CA) is shimmering up as a potential solution to food security, biodiversity, mitigating climate change effects on agriculture and water scarcity challenges. Adoption of CA found to be related not only ecological factors, but also depends on the characteristics of the adopter, their level of perception and the decision-making process. This paper examines the interactions and inter-relationship among climate change perception, energy perception, and level of knowledge on CA as dependent variables with a set of operating agro-economic, social-ecological, communication variables from new alluvial zone of West Bengal. Total of 65 farm households are surveyed using non-random snowballing sampling method. From the study it has found that farmers’ perception on energy, climate change perception, and knowledge on CA are interwoven with each other. As the farmers of the study region are in initial stage of adoption they need access to proper CA-related information and Upgradation of functional education through training, workshops, or demonstrations. Here are the points of interventions for successful on-farm adoption of CA. While land fragmentation and fuel cost are came up as two important predictors.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented stress on agricultural food. Therefore, the goal of this study is to analyze the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on agricultural food and provide policy recommendations based on SWOT analysis to minimize risks. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics were used for this study with a thorough literature review containing policy documents and scientific magazines in the related sector. There is enough evidence to demonstrate that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive influence on agricultural food supply, largely impacting food demand as well as food insecurity. The study uses SWOT analysis to identify the highest-priority policies that may remediate the current issues. Key strategies include developing new online resources such as digitized trade and providing a digital platform to strengthen the buyer?supplier collaboration and lower the risk of food wastage and insecurity. The government should invest in technology that contributes to the sustainable flow of agricultural products along the supply chain to prevent food crises during the pandemic.

Background Aerated food products are becoming increasingly popular among consumers due to their visual appeal and peculiar sensory properties. Foam formation and stabilization are typically achieved using clean label surface-active molecules such as proteins. In recent years, the need to address pressing global challenges like food security and sustainability has steered the attention of food companies towards the replacement of animal proteins with plant-based ones. This trend has promoted the development and commercialization of a variety of plant protein-enriched ingredients that differ widely in their techno-functionality. Scope and approach The aim of this study was to provide a review of the foaming properties of selected plant proteins and to describe how these are influenced by the extraction processes as well as by physical, chemical and enzymatic treatments. Key findings and conclusions The characterization of the foaming properties of plant proteins has been the subject of extensive research over the past couple of decades. However, drawing general conclusions based on the outcomes of different studies is a complex endeavor, even for protein ingredients derived from the same plant species. This is not only due to differences in terms of cultivars, environmental factors, farming practices and extraction processes, but also in the methods and conditions used to generate and analyze foams. Nevertheless, this review highlights the potential of different approaches to improve the foaming properties of plant proteins, including the optimization of extraction conditions, the use of physical, chemical and enzymatic treatments, and the modulation of their interactions with other food components.

The growing population and the climate changes put a pressure on food production globally, therefore a fundamental transformation of food production is required. One approach to accelerate food production is application of modern biotechnology such as cell culture, marker assisted selection, and genetic engineering. Cell culture technology reduces the usage of arable land, while marker-assisted selection increases the genetic gain of crop breeding and genetic engineering enable to introduce a desired traits to crop. The cell culture technology has resulted in development of cultured meat, fungal biomass food (mycoprotein), and bioactive compounds from plant cell culture. Except cultured meat which recently begin to penetrate the market, the other products have been in the market for years. The marker-assisted selection and genetic engineering have contributed significantly to increase the resiliency against emerging pests and abiotic stresses. This review addresses diverse techniques of cell culture technology as well as advanced genetic engineering technology CRISPR Cas-9 and its application for crop improvement. The pros and cons of different techniques as well as the challenges and future perspective of application of modern biotechnology for strengthening food security are also discussed.

Market gardening constitutes a basis for food security of urban and peri-urban households. However, market gardening is subject to the use of chemical inputs, selected varieties, and genetically modified organisms. These practices are increasingly controversial and are likely to affect the sustainability of vegetable farms. This study assessed the sustainability of 120 randomly selected market garden farms (Meknes) using the surveys and the market garden production sustainability indicator. The results show that the majority of the farms identified are characterized by low sustainability, with the agroecological dimension being the limiting factor. The improvement of the components "Ecological diversity", "Spatial organization", and "Agricultural practices" are the ways to improve the global sustainability of vegetable production in Meknes. The socio-territorial sustainability of production is characterized by a lack of training for producers, a lack of hygiene and safety in production activities, and a low contribution to employment. The economic dimension is characterized by low viability, low economic transmissibility, and financial autonomy. To perpetuate the market gardening in the city of Meknes, it appears necessary to promote ecological intensification, integrated diversification, and promotion of local inputs to the various types of market gardening farms

Like most economic sectors, agriculture has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was designed to understand the impact of the initial stages of the pandemic on the agricultural sector in Romania. A web-based research study of farmers was conducted using an online questionnaire. Participants (n = 148) were self–selected, by answering the questionnaire online. The results highlighted that the pandemic was having an impact on agricultural costs, labor, farm management and food security. Among the farmers who were asked to describe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on delays with agricultural work, only 35.1% indicated that they had not registered delays. When farmers were asked if they anticipated a future increase in costs in agriculture as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 45.9% of respondents felt that costs would increase. Fifty-seven percent of participants reported that they would continue to apply measures to reduce the impacts of the pandemic. Our findings and analysis indicated that agricultural systems were vulnerable and that the agricultural sector must be closely monitored and supported to maintain food security in times of crisis. For food security and better resilience of agri-food systems in Romania, the study identified needs for more automation and mechanization in farms, digital solutions for the public and private sector and continuous dialogue between farmers and authorities. We suggest the pandemic can be an opportunity for the reevaluation of agricultural production systems in Romania and beyond, and for the development of more innovative strategies, sustainable practices and digital solutions in agriculture. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12571-021-01239-8.

Peningkatan kesadaran kesehatan menyebabkan permintaan bahan pangan organik meningkat. Pengelolaan pertanian organik menjadi hal yang perlu diperhatikan untuk menjaga ketersediaan kebutuhan ini. Pengabdian yang dilakukan bertujuan untuk membantu kelompok petani di kota Salatiga yang menjadi mitra pengabdian agar dapat memperbaiki pengelolaan persediaan produk hasil pertanian yang akan dijual. Lingkup yang menjadi fokus dalam pengabdian in adalah produk unggulan mereka yaitu beras hitam organic, beras merah organic, beras pandan wangi dan beras mentik susu. Meskipun lebih sehat, bahan pangan kurang popular di kalangan petani. Hal ini disebabkan karena sulitnya penerapan pertanian organic, dan produk yang dinilai lebih rapuh dibandingkan dengan produk non-organik. Komplain yang muncul mengeni munculnya kutu atau jamur pada beras organic merupakan masalah yang dihadapi kelompok tani dalam pemasaran beras organic. Metode pengabdian yang dilakukan terdiri dari dua tahapan utama. Pada tahap pertama tim pengabdian mendampingi kelompok tani dalam mengkoordinasikan pengujian ketahanan pangan terhadap produk – produk utama. Hasil pengujian ketahanan pangan sangat mempengaruhi kebijakan yang diambil dalam melakukan pengelolaan produk. Pada tahap kedua tim pengabdi memberikan pelatihan dalam perumusan kebijakan yang bisa diambil untuk mengatasi hambatan yang teridentifikasi dalam pengelolaan persediaan hasil pertanian organik pada kelompok tani ini. Hasil dari pengabdian ini adalah kebijakan penetapan umur simpan beras yang sebelumnya tidak diperhatikan dalam pengelolaan persediaan. Pada pengabdian ini kelompok tani juga melakukan simulasi penerapan aplikasi e-farming untuk memeberikan gambaran bagaimana keterkaitan pengelolaan persediaan dengan proses penjualan dan distribusi.

Globally, ruminant production contributes immensely to the supply of the highest quality and quantity of proteins for human consumption, sustenance of livelihoods, and attainment of food security. Nevertheless, the phasing out of antibiotics in animal production has posed a myriad of challenges, including poor growth, performance and nutrient utilization, pathogen colonization, dysbiosis, and food safety issues in ruminants. Probiotics (direct-fed microbials), comprising live microbial strains that confer health and nutritional benefits to the host when administered in appropriate quantities, are emerging as a viable, safe, natural and sustainable alternative to antibiotics. Although the mechanisms of action exerted by probiotics on ruminants are not well elucidated, dietary probiotic dosage to ruminants enhances development and maturation, growth and performance, milk production and composition, nutrient digestibility, feed efficiency, pathogen reduction, and mitigation of gastrointestinal diseases. However, the beneficial response to probiotic supplementation in ruminants is not consistent, being dependent on the microbial strain selected, combination of strains, dose, time and frequency of supplementation, diet, animal breed, physiological stage, husbandry practice, and farm management. Nonetheless, several studies have recently reported beneficial effects of probiotics on ruminant performance, health and production. This review conclusively re-iterates the need for probiotics inclusion for the sustainability of ruminant production. Considering the role that ruminants play in food production and employment, global acceptance of sustainable ruminant production through supplementation with probiotics will undoubtedly ensure food security and food safety for the world. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Seasonal variations in agriculture is a major contributor to undernutrition in many agrarian economies. While recent studies have highlighted the role of markets in improving nutrition, the relative importance of markets in smoothing food consumption across seasons remains largely unexamined. Using data from Sierra Leone, this paper analyses whether access to local food markets mitigates seasonal fluctuations in household dietary diversity and food security. Our results confirm that agricultural seasonality imposes significant fluctuations on household dietary diversity and food security. Households, especially those in rural areas, are found to experience significant deteriorations in dietary diversity and food security during the lean season. Most importantly, the results also show that households with better market access consume more diverse diets and are more food secure in both lean and non-lean seasons than remoter households. An important policy implication of these results is that market-based interventions aimed at strengthening market access through improved market infrastructure and roads can significantly contribute to year-long food consumption smoothing, improved dietary diversity and overall food and nutrition security.

Drought and food security crises heighten risks to lives and livelihoods in East Africa. In recent years, a shift towards acting in advance of such events has gained momentum, notably among the humanitarian and development community. This shift is premised on tools that link climate forecasts with pre-agreed actions and funding, known as Forecast-based Action (FbA), or anticipatory action more widely. While FbA approaches have been developed by a number of humanitarian agencies, the key to scaling-up is mainstreaming these approaches into national risk management systems. This paper addresses this gap in the context of drought risk management in Kenya. We analyse Kenya's current drought management system to assess the potential usability of climate forecast information within the existing system, and outline steps towards improved usability of climate information. Further, we note the critical importance of enabling institutions and reliable financing to ensure that information can be consistently used to trigger early action. We discuss the implications of this for scaling-up FbA into national risk management systems.

Irrigation facilities is one of the key factors in farming, especially for food crop farming, including rice. A smallscale irrigation system has an area of less than 500 hectares, and it is the backbone of family food security which in turn will lead to national food security. Damage irrigation system networks will threaten food production increase. In the future, irrigation infrastructure must be better managed so that agricultural sector can realize agricultural diversification, conserve wider irrigation system and maintain local wisdom and social capital in irrigation management. The objective of the paper is to analyze performance, problems and solutions of small irrigation systems in Indonesia, including small irrigation concepts and understanding, small irrigation performance and development, small irrigation development policies, factors affecting smallscale irrigation development, investments, and prospects. The paper also compares various performances, problems and solutions of small irrigation systems in other countries. Small scale irrigation performance is often better than large-scale irrigation, in the sense of water availability throughout the year and equitable water distribution for all service areas

The rapid economic development and climate change have accelerated the changes in China’s food production and have a potential impact on food security. In this paper, the grain sown area from 2001 to 2019 was selected to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution and driving factors of China’s grain production through spatial autocorrelation analysis and geographically weighted regression. Our findings were as follows: (1) From the perspective of time characteristics, China’s grain production from 2001 to 2019 experienced four stages, rapid decline, rapid growth, steady growth, and slow decline, although with an overall upward trend. (2) From the perspective of spatial characteristics, the overall spatial pattern had a significant positive correlation. The high values were mainly concentrated in Shandong, Anhui, and Jilin and moved to the northeast China as time went on. (3) In terms of influencing factors, the positive impact of agricultural labor force on the grain production gradually decreased, showing a decreasing trend from southwest to northeast. The promotion of agricultural mechanization on the grain production increased year by year, with the spatial distribution characteristics of high in the northeast and low in the southwest. Besides, the coefficient of water resources endowment was negative, showing a spatial distribution pattern of high north and low south.

The relevance of the role of cooperative organizations in the development of regional agricultural markets in the food security system of the Russian Federation is determined by a special degree of state priority in the system of providing the population with food products guaranteed at any time. The main place in ensuring food security is occupied by functioning organizational and economic forms of producers of agro-food products. Agricultural organizations and enterprises, peasants and farmers, individual entrepreneurs and rural farmsteads are directly involved in the creation of food funds in Russia. The author analyzes the level of participation of different organizational and legal groups in the cultivation of agricultural products, argues for the need to activate the innovative activities of agricultural organizations and enterprises, more qualified inclusion of cooperative principles in the production activities of cooperative societies in the development of agriculture, increasing the production of agricultural products by agricultural organizations, rural farmsteads and farmers, their share in the growth of economic efficiency, improving the competitiveness of agricultural producers, improving living conditions in rural areas

O presente artigo lança um olhar sobre o romance Quarenta Dias (2014), de Maria Valéria Rezende, em que a escrita é utilizada como ferramenta de libertação de si e construção de identidade. Trata-se de uma pesquisa bibliográfica-descritiva baseada em teóricos como: Bourdieu (1989), Mary Del Priori (2004), Michelle Perrot (2012), Regina Zilberman e Mariza Lajolo (2011), entre outros. Sem capital simbólico, as mulheres não puderam contar sua própria história. Contudo, a partir do momento em que passam a dominar a escrita, tem início seu processo de identificação pessoal e libertação social.

Pakistan is included in top 50 countries which are estimated to face serious agriculture and food deficiency related challenges due to the worldwide pandemic coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 on food supply chain and agriculture in Punjab, Pakistan, by using space–time scan statistic (STSS). A survey was conducted at 720 points in different districts of the province. The STSS detected “active” and emerging clusters that are current at the end of our study area—particularly, 17 clusters were formed while adding the updated case data. Software ArcGIS 10.3 was used to find relative risk (RR) values; the maximum RR value was found to be 42.19 and maximum observed cases 53,265 during June 15–July 1, 2020. It was not always necessary that if the number of active cases in Punjab increased, there should be higher relative risk for more number of districts and vice versa. Due to the highest number of cases of COVID-19 and RR values during July, mostly farmers faced many difficulties during the cultivation of cotton and rice. Mostly farmers (72%) observed increase in prices of inputs (fertilizers and pesticides) during lockdown. If the supply chain of agriculture related inputs is disturbed, farmers may find it quite difficult to access markets, which could result in a decline in production and sales of crops and livestock in study area. It is suggested that to protect the food security and to decrease the effect of the lockdown, Punjab government needs to review food policy and analyse how market forces will respond to the imbalanced storage facilities and capacity, supply and demand and price control of products. The findings of this study can also help policy-makers to formulate an effective food security and agriculture adaptation strategy.

Cooperativism is a method introduced by people in a society to neutralize the competitive prices of goods from among business sectors. It is a way for people to come together, put up their goods and services as one, and with the end in view of benefiting from their products. The purpose of this study is to appraise the fundamental function of cooperativism and how it can assist and sustain small farmers in their aim for food security. This work utilized hermeneutical phenomenology in understanding the lived experiences of small farmers in Barangay Cogon, Tanauan, Leyte, Philippines from the establishment of their cooperative, its operation, and its eventual success in giving them food security in the process. The results indicate that farmers were hesitant in establishing a cooperative because of the groundwork that accompanies it. But with the aid of the faculty members of the Eastern Visayas State University, the farmers underwent education on the nature of cooperativism. From there, the faculty members allowed the farmers to cultivate discipline, sustenance, and business integrity while operating the cooperative. Constant monitoring from the faculty members over the farmers was necessary to ensure that the cooperative was consistently maintained thereby achieving stability and eventual food security. For years now, the cooperative has helped its members substantially. Coincidentally, the occurrence of the covid-19 virus has made significant changes or damages to human life and properties, but this cooperative gave hope and food sustenance to its members. This study hopes that the effort of the initiators coupled with the cooperation and effort of the cooperative members exemplify the need to proliferate cooperativism in every society especially among poor farmers. Keywords: Cooperativism; Agricultural cooperative; Theory of cooperation; Phenomenological study; Research and extension service; Food security

This paper presents findings on the links between coastal/marine resources endowment and climate change resilience to coastal communities in Mchungu and Kivinja’ A’ village on the coastal zone of Rufiji District in Tanzania. The study focused on exploring the existing coastal resources and their support to communities’ livelihood, climatic threats that are experienced, and the role of coastal resources in enhancing communities’ resilience. It further sought to establish other enabling factors for climate change adaptation (e.g., gender, education, governance, by-laws, and membership in social networks). The study used focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and household surveys in data collection. Findings show that Mchungu village is endowed with fish, mangrove, natural canal, and floodplains as their major coastal resources, while Kivinja’ A’ is rich in salt and coconut production. Communities in both villages exploit these coastal resources for their livelihood activities such as fishing, agriculture, and business. The study further found that coastal communities are already experiencing the effects of climate change through temperature rise, flooding, drought, sea-level rise, and storm surges. These affect household food security in terms of fish catch and crop production. The study revealed that coastal and marine resources were important for increasing community resilience (P ≤ 0.05) to climate change impacts in the studied villages. However, household resilience to climate change impacts was also influenced by gender, by-laws, education, and membership in social networks.